By: Jesse Striewski
Good old black metal giants Venom return for yet another outing, and just in time for the holidays. Sure, the cover art is pretty laughable, and the subject matter can get a bit old. But for the most part, Cronos and company still got “it,” at least as far as heavy riffs go.
Storm the Gates may be slightly more true to the band’s original sound than the efforts of Cronos’ former bandmates (who have gone off to form Venom Inc.), and it does actually contain an admirable moment or two. Tracks like “Notorious” and “100 Miles to Hell” are fairly brutal headbangers. Still, overall it just comes off feeling like that old uncle who’s still trying to prove to the young kids he’s still cool after all these years (few are likely to agree he is in this case).
Rating: 2 Stars
